I’m having the footing in my outdoor arena redone over the summer. One of the builders suggested using a textile between the base and footing to keep rocks from mixing in, which I’ve had problems with for years. Anyone used this in their arenas? I want the good and bad, TIA!
Good news: it will definitely keep rocks from coming up - a general nuisance, but also potentially dangerous to your horse.
Bad news: it will add cost to the arena.
For more information on footing, check out our recent Classic Equine Equipment blog at https://classicequineblog.wordpress.com/2018/05/08/5-things-to-know-about-arena-footing/
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Potentially dangerous? The rocks or the fabric ;)? Surprisingly, the quote that included the textile was the lowest of all 4 estimates we got!
The rocks could cause tripping or a stone bruise but I saw an arena where the textile was worked up from being dragged too deep and it was indeed a hazard.
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OMG I would cry if someone pulled up geotextile I had installed. I would only do it over the natural subbase with a rock base over it and then sand though. I would not do it directly between sand and the ground.
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The fabric being brought to the surface due to working the footing to deep happened in an arena near me. It is a major hassle to pull the footing back, relay the fabric and then re spread the fabric.
I’ve seen a few adds for the “Hoof Grid” type product being used as a base with arena footing over the top. Would think that would be very expensive.
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No, no, no. Please do not do this. That’s a horrible idea. That builder doesn’t understand what textile is for, or how to build a horse arena. Textile installed top of the native soil, before the base is put down to prevent the base from disappearing into the earth. Same as for building a road. You’d never put textile on top of the base before the top gravel.
I know of someone who was talked into this by a “horse arena builder”. Horses slipped on their footing because of this. Then, their arena groomer grabbed onto the textile and ripped a bunch of it up. They turned horses out on the arena before they knew the textile had been ripped. Horses found it and pulled it up with their teeth and dug into the base trying to get more fabric. The textile is held down by huge spikes, so up came a bunch of spikes along with that textile. Luckily, no horses stepped on the spikes. This was a huge jumping arena. It cost 10’s of thousands for them to remove all the footing, sift through it for spikes, remove all the fabric, remove their base, and to completely start over with putting down the textile in the right order.
What everyone else said, times 10!
The correct order for building an arena is:
excavate the native soil
lay down down textile
put spikes into textile so it doesn’t move
add base layer
add footing layer
add footing additives, if that’s in your plan, too
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